The Skipper. 47 



imitate the actions of the flying-fish, although not endowed 

 like it with wing-like fins. In the summer and autumn this 

 faculty is not unfrequently called into action, and in doing tins 

 it finds even a more certain safety than is the lot of the fish 

 which is usually called by that name ; for while the latter in its 

 blind haste often falls into an equal amount of danger from that 

 which it sought to escape, by dropping on the deck of a ship, 

 we have never known the other to encounter a like misfortune. 

 But it is time we should more particularly mention the name of 

 the fish to which our remarks apply ; this species, then, is the 

 Esox saurus of Linnasus, and Scomberesox saurus of Cuvier ; 

 of which a larger representation, in its natural colours, will be 

 given in the " Natural History of Fishes of the British Islands," 

 now in the course of publication. 



By the unlearned fishermen of the West of England, the 

 name bestowed on this fish is the Skipper, or more broadly the 

 Skopster, and by some observers it is called the Sea-mouse, on 

 account of a motion it sometimes adopts ; perhaps when not 

 very closely pressed by a pursuer, or it may be, even in sport, 

 for the most timid fishes have their sports, more even than 

 their voracious pursuers, and very amusing sports they often 

 are. On these occasions first one of these fishes darts above 

 the surface of the deep, which at that time is perhaps as calm 

 and smooth as a mill-pond. It appears to run along upon the 

 surface without for a moment dipping beneath, but barely 

 touching the water with the points of its pectoral and ventral 

 fins ; the action appearing as if it bounded along like a mouse as 

 it quickly passes from one hole to another. But in its onward 

 course this individual is not long alone, and in a few seconds a 

 whole bevy of these fishes are engaged in the race, until, perhaps 

 tired with the exertion, they sink below and all is over. On 

 other occasions the true flying-fish is more closely imitated, 

 and the action of flight is plainly accomplished by a single vigor- 

 ous spring, in which the tail and finlets are the moving power, 

 and by which they are carried aloft for the distance of thirty or 

 forty feet, when they sink again in a sloping direction — it is to 

 • be feared, into the mouth of some voracious enemy that has 

 watched their motions from below. In the flying-fish it is the 

 pectoral fins which form the buoyant instrument of flight ; but 

 these in the skopster are of small size, and it is to their con- 

 struction and manner of attachment to the body that they be- 

 come fitted to the habits of the fish; their shape being so 

 curved that it requires little effort to enable them to rise from 

 their usual depth to the surface — as the wings of the lark en- 

 able it to rise and hover, in a manner, beyond the capacity of 

 most other tenants of the air ; and when the fish has reached 

 the surface, the vigorous action of the tail and the small fins 



